The "cringe" factor

There is a natural human response (maybe I am wrong, maybe it is learned) ... that I call the "cringe" factor. I am referring to that feeling you get deep inside when you sense somebody (usually that you are favorable to or somehow connected with) has said something really stupid or really wrong, i.e. a bald faced lie. This often manifests itself in a physical response, up to and including a "ducking" motion akin to avoiding a slap on the head; you see a lot of this acted out in old B&W movies or on-stage drama. At the very least your face twists as you try to digest what was said and what the response will be.

I experienced this a few times recently ... one in response to politicizing of a mugging and one to the absolutely stupid remarks by Pat Robertson recently. In the first case, the infamous story of the two soldiers who were filmed being beaten outside of a Seatle (?) night club ... and a radio commentator noted that anti-war liberals usually call themselves pacifists. The truth was it was just an ugly mugging by some viscious thugs (who probably cannot spell liberal) in a barroom brawl kind of scene; there was nothing to indicate this had anything to do with the fact that the victims just got back from Iraq (they were not in uniform). The second cringe incident was the Pat Robertson debacle ... not like I think he speaks for anybody but his goofy followers, but I knew this would be pasted on the "radical" Christian right wing.

As an aside, I really appreciate Nancy Pelosi, of all people, for stepping in the manure and saving the day for conservatives. Her over-the-top demand that Bush renounce what Robertson said was politically stupid ... all conservatives were only too happy to do so! Despite the representations by media, very few conservatives consider Robertson to be anything but an annoying squeak, a prime supply of many cringe moments. The media was doing its best to associate Robertson with conservative mainstream, but Pelosi gave us an easy out and in doing so even knocked herself down a few notches. Way to go, Nancy!

Back to the point ... I believe that the key problem with liberals in this country is that many have completely hardened themselves against the cringe response. I believe the Clinton years solidified this ... oral sex really isn't sex; redefining of the word "is"; Hillary really did not have anything to do with the FBI files, firing those travel agency people, or the billing records ... you get the picture.

Most liberals have taken this loss of perspective a step further, they have not only lost the cringe response but have lost all concept of when a reasonable person should have cringed! Granted, under certain situations a person must restrain the response, or at least external manifestations of it (when you are standing with your boss and they say something really corny or stupid, a "cringe" could mess up your career). I believe modern liberals have now moved beyond extraordinary self-control to where they literally do not even have a clue that the ridiculous statements and arguments are "cringe-worthy". Think of the Michael Moore response, where Democrat Congressmen would literally acknowledge the movie was essentially a lie but still encouraged people to see it anyway.

I believe that this loss of the "cringe" response is a significant contributor to the downfall of the democrat party. Normal, decent people cannot relate to people that can say really stupid things and obvious lies ... most of us cringe when we tell a whopper. Moreso, however, is that people get really pissed off when they fall for a lie and find out later what happened. Democrats now live by the Clinton mantra of tell the same lie over and over again and it becomes the truth ... and so they trudge down this path of a fabricated world of deceit. Decent people cannot relate to this ... especially when amplified by the dangerous new realities we now face.